There are in fact two legends about its creation. First is the story reporting that the Turks invented the croissant during the siege of Istanbul in the 16th century. A second legend – arguably more glamorous – came from Vienna in Austria. In order to celebrate the defeat of the Turkish army at the siege of the Austrian capital in 1683, the Viennese bakers came up with a brioche in the shape of a crescent (which was part of the enemies’ flag) to take a bite out of them!
This explains why we still use in French the word “viennoiseries” (or Viennese pastries) to refer to all sorts of croissants, brioches, pains au chocolat, apple